Saturday, September 19, 2009
A Night at the “Instrument Petting Zoo”
A squeaking, blurbing, squawking, hooting, whistling, clarinet, tuba, cello, violin, flute, sax and drum delight of a night, the annual “instrument petting zoo”—as one school staffer phrased it, and he might have placed emphasis on “zoo”—brought parents and school kids from all Arlington to Thomas Jefferson Middle School’s basement Tuesday.
Students tried out, tried on, tested, stood, stared, bowed, fingered, slid, plucked, blew, and—occasionally—listened through a one-stop-shopping night of orchestral abundance. Since Internet storage is cheap, I’ll add that they laughed, measured, chatted, scratched, bleated and boomed.
Billed as the “Instrumental Music Information Night,” the Arlington Public Schools event was aimed primarily at 4th and 5th graders who can join the schools’ orchestras and bands this year.
School orchestra and band leaders with upper-class students, gave the elementary school kids quick lessons on how to hold, blow or strike the instrument in order to fit the student to the right size—a full-, or half-sized violin, for instance.
Sales and rental information was also available (rentals going first, and at reduced prices, to the families who need financial assistance most). Students handed in forms at the end of the night with their top three preferences. The schools make the choices about who gets which.
Christopher Wall, a 4th grader at Taylor Elementary School, was new to the school and the opportunity to get these music lessons, his mom, Beth, said. She added, he wanted to come to try the violin and the “kello.”
It’s a 30 second video of the night, enjoy:
Labels: aps, Barrett, instruments, kids music, music
Monday, May 05, 2008
Kids Danced, Sang, Performed. (Fun Had By All!)
Also on slate for the night was the Barrett PTA booksale, and school-wide, poster-style presentations of student writing.
I must apologize, however, to the upper grades as they are not in the video. Organizers kicked parents out of the cafetorium after the K-2 performances, and by the time I got back to shoot some video, I heard, "Thank you and good night" and therefore had missed the performance of the third through fifth grades.
I am sorry for that. What follows is two minutes of the younger children, including, I will admit, my daughter, sporting her Leather Tuscadero bangs.
Labels: art, Barrett, kids music
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Letters on Renovation and Music; Lubber Run Sched.
Hey everyone, have a great Independence Day; eat a bratwurst for me. So you know, I've got the links to my other posts working much, much better (it was actually an easy fix). If you click, though, you might find that you might still have to scroll down to find the story within that post that you're looking for. But now, you get one day, one post, not all the posts from May, for instance. I hope it helps.
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Letters to the Editor: Rocknoceros and Pershing/Glebe Renovation
Hello,
My mom (Kathryn Scruggs) forwarded me your blog about kids music--you MUST check out local favorite Rocknoceros.They play during the day at Jammin Java [in Vienna] (Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.) and often have gigs at our own fine Cinema ‘n’ Drafthouse.
Their new CD is called "Dark Side of the Moonbounce"!
--Jane Scruggs
From Steve:
10:30 a.m. weekdays Jammin Java runs kids shows, fyi. Mondays has even more shows; call their info line for more: 703-255-1566.
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Do you know anything about the alleged remodeling that is supposed to take place
in the Buckingham area? Reportedly per county representative, they were going to
begin working on roads, parking lots, lighting, etc. in the spring. It is now
summer and nothing has happened yet. Thank you in advance for your forthcoming
response.
--Pat Flanagan
From Steve:
Pat sent another email writing that she did a little reporting on her own to find out that the intersection on N. Pershing Drive and N. Glebe Road is still in the works. She wrote: “Since I received the good news this morning, I am once again hopeful and plan to wait patiently and look forward to the anticipated sound of jack hammers, which I believe will be a welcome sound to my ears.”
For more on this, check out the two posts below.
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This Weekend at Lubber Run Amphitheatre
Friday, July 6
8:15 p.m. The Art of Belly Dancing: Demo & Lesson
8:30 p.m. Film: “The Awful Truth” (1938) with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne
Saturday, July 7
8:00 p.m. “Texas Chainsaw Horns,” Five Funky Horns & an Attitude
Sunday, July 8
8:00 p.m. Piedmont Blues Celebration, featuring “Piedmont Blues,” a quartet.
Labels: kids music, lubber run amphitheatre, renovation
Monday, June 25, 2007
Pedestrian Meeting, Concerts and Music
Another meeting addressing the quality of life in Buckingham will take place this week on Friday. Addressing pedestrian safety at the corner of N. Carlin Springs Road and N. Glebe Road, the meeting will bring together the public with Assistant County Manager Shannon Flanagan-Watson. Ms. Flanagan-Watson has as yet to prepare for the meeting, she said in an interview today, but is planning to meet with staff before Friday. The intersection boasts 15 lanes of traffic including turn lanes and exit lanes from the Ballston Commons Mall, and it is a high-use pedestrian and vehicle commuter area. Residents, especially the elderly and disabled, have long complained about the intersection. And the county has reported and fretted over the corner. Some improvements have been made.
Pedestrians walk across seven lanes of traffic while cars pass through the crosswalk at N. Glebe Road and N. Carlin Springs Road.
Pat Hope, the president of the Buckingham Community Civic Association, wrote in an email to the BCCA that he wants to put together a small workgroup “following this meeting to make sure all areas of concern are being appropriately addressed.”
The public is invited Friday, June 29, at 3 p.m. at the Carlin (4300 N. Carlin Springs Rd.). Mr. Hope has asked for people to email him if they wish to help.
The first meeting scheduled for this week is by invitation only (or primarily) scheduled for Wednesday at 3p.m. It concerns loitering and public drunkenness in the neighborhood. Scroll down to the June 20 post for more on this meeting.
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This weekend at Lubber Run Amphitheatre:
Friday, June 29:
8:15 p.m. The Art of Belly Dancing: Demo & Lesson
8:30 p.m. Film: Casablanca (1942)
Saturday, June 30
Mary Ann Redmond Band: Kick Butt Blues (From the “What’s Up Arlington” Newsletter: “Mary Ann Redmond presents an evening of her "Kick Butt Blues" at Arlington's outdoor amphitheatre. A Washington, DC native, she has won a staggering 14 WAMMIE Awards for best female jazz singer, best rock-pop vocalist, best roots rock/tradional R & B, and best female blues vocalist.”)
Sunday, July 1
Slavic Male Chorus: Hi-Energy Folk Music (From the The Slavic Male Chorus Web Site: “The Slavic Male Chorus of Washington DC has thrilled audiences with heartfelt interpretations of the folk songs and sacred hymns of Russia and many Slavic lands.”)
To keep up with the Amphitheatre’s summer schedule, look to the right hand column, and click the Arts al Fresco link under “County Gov’t Sites.”
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A Little More About Music
Ever since the Steve Songs Concert a couple weekends ago (see the June 7 post), friends and I have been talking about great kids music (hey, it’s what we do).
Anyway, I thought I’d add a few names and titles for those people interested. Feel free to email me with more, or simply add ideas to “comments” below…
Eddie Spaghetti—He’s an aging rocker, from the looks of his photos, and his “Greatest Hits” album is really good. My fave: “Rainy, Rainy Day Blues.” With lines like “Don’t let the clouds down in my shoes/Don’t want no rainy, rainy day blues…” it’s like something out of a 70s sitcom (I’m thinking “Love, American Style,” or maybe “The Monkeys”). Click the link and you can download the songs—he also has a link to order CDs.
Jessica Harper—She’s got a good band behind her, especially her pianist. Her voice is nice, her songs are fun. (Her web site is interesting because it’s very focused on her kids books—I didn’t even know she had any.) I like “Inside/Out” though, for albums. “Little Brown Dog Named Joe” is my fave, a bluesy tune about a dog that has eaten all her shoes (“…then you ate my cowboy boots/and now you ride the range/hey, you little brown dog-named-joe…”).
They Might Be Giants—I remember from a Washington Post story when their album “NO!” came out that they would get on stage and yell, “We’re Number 1 on the children’s music charts!” during their adult concerts. (I couldn’t find a link to the Washington Post story, sorry.) Frankly, their kid’s music isn’t a whole lot different than their adult stuff. My favorite tune on “No!” is “The Edison Museum”: “The OLDest, LARgest AND most FAmous MAUsoleum in New JERsey.”
Finally, Brent Holmes—He sings about cows, bears, whales, walruses, and moose. Many of these animals help him out on the songs (Marty the Moose and Bernie the Bear take time out of their concert schedules to accompany Mr. Holmes.) A lot of them are simple addition or multiplication songs. He does a great job with the voices, especially on the song “Peanut Butter” where sticky-mouthed bears are eating their beloved food.
But the one I have pretty much committed to memory is “The Backpack Tree.” If you don’t know what that is, it’s the tree backpackers use to keep their food from bears. You find a tree, throw a rope over a whimpy branch that couldn’t hold a bear, and hoist your pack off the ground to a height taller than a bear and a distance as far from the trunk as you can get. This is all for naught, the song suggests (sing it with a goofy, bear-like sound, and you get the idea): “The backpack tree, the backpack tree, I love it when I run into a backpack tree/When I’m bouncin’ down the trail/my favorite thing to see/is backpacks hanging in a backpack tree/backpacks are my favorite food/they put me in a wonderful mood/it’s never very hard to get them down/I climb up the tree and I knock them to the ground.” After he eats the food, he buries the backpacks in order to grow more backpack trees. Classic.
Labels: amphitheatre, concert, kids music, lubber run amphitheatre, meeting, pedestrian
